Convergence
by Jethro25
Summary: A case involving the murder of an FBI agent, who is also a Navy Reserve Lieutenant on active duty brings the NCIS team into an uneasy partnership with the folks from Bones. This story serves as a sequel to The Long Lie. Rating changed to T.
1. Chapter 1

**CHAPTER ONE**

Dr. Temperence Brennan was sitting quietly in her living room, a nice fire was laid in the fireplace making the apartment feel cozy and warm, even giving off a cheery glow, which is something she likely wouldn't have recognized, as such, a few years earlier. She was sitting cross-legged on the couch, half a glass of pinot noir within reach on the end table, reading. The subject of her study could be called anything but cheery. It was a medical journal, an article on the rate of organic decay found in soil with high concentrations of ferric minerals and the resulting effect on bone density. She wasn't entirely sure that she agreed with the author's conclusions.

She picked up the wineglass and took a small sip. As she set it back on the coaster, her cell phone began to ring. She picked it up from the end table, next to the glass and answered.

"Temperence Brennan."

"Bones." The voice was one she'd come to know quite well. "I'm on my way over. A body was discovered in Anacostia Park."

"You could at least say hello first, Booth."

"Aren't you the one who told me that, logically speaking, greetings between people extremely familiar with one another are a waste of time?"

"Yes, but you informed me that maintaining politeness is a form of respect."

"Sorry." She could hear the frustration in his voice. "Hey Bones, it's Booth. How are you tonight?"

"I'm fine, thank you."

"Great, I'll be there in five." With that, her partner hung up on her.

She got up and moved to the closet. She was already fully dressed, not having changed after coming home from the Jeffersonian. She chose some boots, which didn't go well at all with the outfit she had on, but that never been one of the primary concerns of Temperence Brennan's life. She grabbed a heavy coat and double-checked that there were gloves in the pocket. Washington DC in January was quite cold. It had been fairly warm lately, days in the low forties, but the temperature outside at nine-thirty pm would be perhaps half that. She moved to the door, scooping up a field kit that she kept packed and ready nearby the door, for just such an occasion.

She was halfway down the staircase, she preferred the stairs as opposed to riding the elevator for three floors as it helped to keep her in good shape, when Booth appeared at the bottom of the stairs and began to climb them three at a time.

"I'm right here, Booth," she said, stopping him in his tracks.

"Oh, hey Bones." He fell into step beside her when she reached his position on the staircase.

The two of them headed back outside and climbed into the large black SUV he'd left idling at the curb.

"What do we know?" she asked as he slipped the truck into drive and turned on the flashing blue light, pulling out from the curb and accelerating into traffic.

"They pulled a body, pretty badly decomposed, from the river in Anacostia Park this afternoon. A couple of kids found her." He seemed a bit anxious.

"Her? The body is female?"

"Maybe. I figured you would confirm that for me when we get there,"

"What haven't you told me yet?" she asked, as he turned into Anacostia Park.

"Metro PD found a military ID in what was left of one of the victim's pockets."

"So we know who she is," Bones said.

"Maybe." He turned off the road and across a grassy area toward the river. Several DC Metro cruisers were already parked there, along what appeared to be a large blue and white ambulance. As they pulled up, Booth said, "Damn it."

"What's wrong?"

He gestured toward the ambulance looking vehicle. "This investigation just got a hell of a lot more complicated." Brennan read the lettering on the side of the truck. N.C.I.S. Major Case Response Team. "Tracy Phillips was an FBI agent, on indefinite leave. She'd been called up to active duty as a naval Lieutenant. She was a reservist."

"Why would that upset you?" Brennan asked, her confusion clear on her face, as they got out of the car.

Booth simply pointed to the tall, good-looking man with the silvery hair who was striding toward them in a black windbreaker that read NCIS. As he approached, she noticed just how blue his eyes were.

"Gibbs, NCIS," the man said, brandishing his identification. "Don't touch anything without clearing it with my ME first."


	2. Chapter 2

**CHAPTER TWO**

"NCIS," Booth said. "Everybody in the FBI hates these guys."

"What about that Agent you said works with them normally, Fornell?" Brennan asked.

They began walking toward where the body was, picking their way way as they went.

"Doesn't count," Booth answred. "Everybody in the FBI hates Fornell too."

"Does the FBI like anybody?"

Before Booth could answer, they reached the yellow crime scene tape. There were two more NCIS agents, a man and a woman standing near the body. The man was tall and slender, at least compared to the broad-shouldered Booth. He had a ready smile and Brennan found herself admitting that he was quite good-looking. He had a camera strap around his neck, and in between observations to the woman, he snapped pictures of the crime scene.

The woman was perhaps three to four inches shorter than Brennan, petit, with dark hair and eyes. She had a sort of classic beauty, which most men would find difficult to resist. She was sketching on a large white pad, occasionally laughing at her companion's observations, and sometimes shaking her head, in a resigned fashion. She glanced up at the two FBI agents and then back to her pad.

As she glanced up, Booth froze for a second. His next step, he stumbled over his own feet and fell face first onto the ground. There was a loud guffaw from the man with the camera.

As Brennan bent to help her partner up, she heard the woman ask, "What was funny about that, Tony?"

"You're kidding, right Kate?" he answered. "I love to see the FBI fall on their face."

Booth sat up first, and hesitated before getting up. His eyes never left the woman. Brennan, her curiosity now piqued asked, "What's going on, Booth?"

"It's just…" he began, but seemed unable to form any sort of complete sentence at the moment.

"She's pretty Booth, but I don't see what the big deal is." Brennan looked over at the woman again. The two NCIS agents were now watching the two FBI agents as well, whispering between themselves.

"It's not like she's the first attractive female you've ever seen." Coming from another woman, Booth might have thought she was fishing for a compliment on her own looks. Bones was a beautiful woman herself, but Booth knew she was aware of the fact, and completely disregarded it as being unimportant.

He started to rise, when the scene flashed through his mind again_, the same woman, on a rooftop in Norfolk, wearing a flak jacket. The man was with her, also in a vest, and agent Gibbs. They were helping her to her feet. She'd just taken a hit, in her own vest, from a gunman who'd been trying to kill the silver-haired senior agent. Booth lined up the center of Caitlyn Todd's forehead in the sights of his high-powered rifle and exhaled. If it was going to happen, it would happen now. The woman began to say something, and there was a warbling tone in Booth's earwig. He gently squeezed the trigger and expelled a single round from the silenced barrel of his rifle, just as he heard the loud report of another rifle from the roof directly in front of him. He saw his round hit her forehead, and he saw the small dot of blood, or what certainly looked like blood. He prayed that what he'd been told was right, and he hadn't killed a Federal Agent. _

Brennan didn't think she'd ever seen her partner this shaken. "What is wrong with you, Booth?"

At that moment, a man cleared his throat behind them. "Ahem, would pardon us, please?" The accent was clearly English.

They turned to see the NCIS medical examiner. He was in perhaps his middle sixties, though still quite fit. A younger man, in his middle twenties, slender, with round glasses was a step behind.

Booth began to step aside, when the ME said, "Good heavens, you're Dr. Temperence Brennan."

"Yes, I am," Bones said.

"Dr. Donald Mallard," The Englishman held out his hand, first to Bones, and then Booth. "I'm the medical examiner for NCIS." He gestured toward the younger man. "This is my assistant, Jimmy Palmer."

"A pleasure Dr. Brennan," Palmer said, shaking her hand.

"This is Agent Seely Booth, my partner," Brennan said. More pleasantries were exchanged.

"I knew a man named Booth once, when I was at Edinburgh Medical College. He was from Leeds, or was it Liverpool? Anyway, he was a world class cricket player and…"

"Today Ducky," Gibbs called from where he was squatting near the body.

"Ah, of course, if you'd excuse me," he and Palmer began to descend the small slope, managing a gurney between them.

"Ducky?" Bones said, in a somewhat confused voice.

"That's what my friends call me," Dr. Mallard said. "I'd very much like to consider you a friend Dr. Brennan." And with that they were gone.

"What a strange man," Bones said, beginning to follow them.

"Yeah," Booth said, starting after her, but his eyes never left the petit woman.

As they closed on the body, the other pair of agents had circled around to the far side, and continued their work. Every now and again, they would look up at Booth and Brennan, their foreheads creased with frowns.

As they neared the body, Gibbs stood and blocked their path. Dr. Mallard knelt next to the body and spoke in a hushed tone with his assistant.

"Let's get one thing straight here, Agent…" Gibbs paused.

"Booth."

"Agent Booth," Gibbs went on, "that is a dead naval officer." Without looking, he had thrust his arm out pointing directly at the body. "This is my crime scene."

Booth answered, "She was also an FBI agent. That makes it our crime scene." When he said "our", Booth gestured to himself and Bones, and also to Gibbs.

"NCIS is lead," Gibbs said. Bones started to move around him, toward the body, but he threw an arm out to bar her way.

"Fornell said you were a pain in the ass," Booth answered.

"Did he now?"

Brennan simply walked around Gibbs outstretched arm and kneeled down next to the body. She'd clearly been dead for some time. From what Booth had told her, the woman had gone missing nearly a month earlier. That fit roughly with what she saw at first glance.

Booth continued, "He also said you were the best." Gibbs simply nodded, making a mental note to remember that Tobias had earned some bit of courtesy.

Gibbs didn't answer, simply staring at the younger man. There was something about him that the Gunnery Sergeant in Gibbs couldn't help but like, despite the strange belt and the cocky attitude. Finally, Booth said, "You're lead, but Bones and I are on the team."

Gibbs didn't really understand the Bones comment, but he assumed it had to do with the woman. He held out his hand, and was impressed again with the firm handshake and steady eye contact Agent Booth held with him. It seemed pretty clear that intimidation was a tactic that wouldn't get him too far with this one.

"Two kids found her," Gibbs said, moving back toward the body, Booth following. "What have you got, Duck?"

The ME looked up. "I've only just met the deceased, Jethro. I'll need more time to examine her before…"

Bones cut in, "She was between twenty-seven and thirty-two, approximately five-foot five, and one hundred thirty pounds. Most likely cause of death was strangulation, and at some point, she donated bone marrow."

Gibbs looked at her, somewhat dumbfounded, then to Ducky. Tony and Kate looked on, thinking that they'd never seen Gibbs so surprised.

"We'll know for sure when we get her back to NCIS, but I'd wager my reputation that Dr. Brennan here is correct," Ducky said.

"Thank you, Dr. Mallard," Bones said.

"Please, call me Ducky."

Bones looked at him, somewhat askance, but said, "Ducky."

Gibbs looked at Brennan and asked, "You've been here less than three minutes. How do you know all this?" Another pair of agents, wearing NCIS jackets approached, out of the trees. Another slender woman, maybe a year or two younger than the first, with dark hair, worn longer, and a bit curlier, and a younger man, taller, and with a bit of a baby face.

"What's going on?" the man asked Tony.

"Hush, Probie," Tony said.

Before Bones could even answer, Ducky said, "Jethro, this is Dr. Temperence Brennan. She is perhaps the finest Forensic Anthropologist in the world."

"Thank you Dr. Mallard...Ducky," Bones said. She looked at Gibbs, and then Booth.

"Show him. He's the lead investigator on this," Booth said.

Brennan nodded, as though some piece of a puzzle had fallen into place. She'd been wondering to that point why Booth had been fairly quiet. She pointed to the bones in the neck of the corpse. "It's hard to see, because not all the flesh is gone, but there is a small fracture of the hyoid bone. That indicates likely strangulation." She then pointed to part of the exposed thigh bone on the woman's left leg. "You see these two small discolorations on the thigh bone?" Gibbs nodded. "They're caused by 

the surgery for bone marrow replacement. A series of tiny holes are drilled in the bone and marrow is either removed to be transplanted into another, or inserted from a donor."

Gibbs wasn't surprised that Ducky hadn't told him these things. He was looking right at what she pointed out, and he could barely see it himself, and he'd put on his glasses.

"The height and weight were simply an estimate, based on approximate sized, and what I could make out based on bones structure," Brennan finished.

"I could have told you those," Tony said.

"DiNozzo,…" Gibbs started, sounding a bit frustrated.

"Actually Gibbs," the new woman said, a slight accent to her speech, "believe it or not, he's never off by more than half an inch, or two to three pounds, at least not when the victim is a woman."

"Yeah Boss," the younger agent put in, "it's kind of scary."

"Thank you Ziva, Probie," DiNozzo said, feeling vindicated. "Owww!" He began rubbing the back of his head, where Kate had slapped him, at a signal from Gibbs. He glowered at her, which prompted only a sweet smile and an innocent look.

"We should get the body, and any trace evidence back to the Jeffersonian," Dr. Brennan said.

"It's all going back to NCIS," Gibbs said.

"With all due respect," Brennan began, but was cut off by Ducky.

The Medical Examiner stood and said, "I think she is right, Jethro. Their labs and equipment are far superior to our own. It would be foolish of us not to take advantage of such an opportunity."

"The body goes with you, Duck. Call Abby and have her meet you there." He turned to Booth. "Get my people cleared at the Jeffersonian."

"Who is Abby?" Brennan asked.

"Probably another squint," Booth replied as he hit speed dial on his cell. "Cam, I'm gonna need you to authorize temporary clearance for three NCIS squints. Yeah, we're on our way back. I'll get you all the info when I get there, thanks." He hung up and turned to Bones, but his eyes once again lingered on the brunette.

As they turned and started back toward his car, Brennan asked, "What is it about that woman, Booth? I didn't see a ring on her finger, so if you're attracted to her you should ask her out."

"That's not it Bones," he said, finally tearing his eyes from Caitlyn Todd.

"Then what is it?"

"I shot her Bones, about three and a half years ago, just before you and I partnered up, I shot her in the head."

This time it was Bones' turn to stumble and stare in shock.


	3. Chapter 3

Sorry for the long delay between posts. I'd lost my muse for a time. Hopefully she will stay with me for a while now. At the least, I have four new chapters written. I'll post one per day, and hopefully write a few more in the meantime. I know very little about medicine, or forensics. Much of it is made up as I go, or what I pick up from the shows. Any mistakes are purely my own.

**CHAPTER THREE**

"I don't understand, Booth," Bones said. "If you shot her in the head, how is she here, alive?" She paused for just a moment then asked, "Did you miss?"

"Did I miss?" Booth asked, in an incredulous tone. "Of course I didn't miss."

"But she's alive."

"Of course she's alive, Bones. I didn't shoot her with a real bullet."

"I don't understand. Why don't you start at the beginning."

Booth took a deep breath, checked over his shoulder before changing lanes, then continued. "Her name is Special Agent Caitlyn Todd. She joined NCIS five years ago after leaving the Secret Service, something to do with that whole thing regarding Air Force One and the poisoned aides to the President."

"I remember that," Bones interjected.

"Anyway," Booth continued, "NCIS, specifically Gibbs' team, had a few run-ins with a rogue Mossad officer, who was undercover in Hamas. He was supposed to be feeding intel on Hamas & al-Qaeda to Mossad, but he'd switched sides."

"I have a question."

"What is it, Bones?"

What is Mossad?"

"Mossad is like the CIA, for Israel, only far more effective, and more than a little vicious."

"Oh, okay."

Booth waited for a few seconds to see if she had anything else to ask on that front, & then went on, "Apparently, this guy hated Gibbs, no big surprise there. Everybody else seems to hate him. I don't know all the details, but he snuck into NCIS Headquarters and shot Gibbs, and another NCIS employee, after holding _Ducky_ and agent Todd hostage for a few hours." When he said Ducky, he used his best impersonation of the man himself.

"Aren't the Israelis our allies?"

"Yeah, but he was acting on orders from Hamas."

"I'm waiting for you to get to the part where you shot Agent Todd in the head." After a short pause, she added, "I didn't see a noticeable scar anywhere."

"I'm getting there Bones." They'd reached the Jeffersonian, and Booth pulled up into his usual space in visitor parking, but neither one of them moved to exit the vehicle.

"So this guy came back about a year later, with some more Hamas guys. They were going to try and use fake Air-to-Ground missiles to force Marine One to land on its way to Camp David, so that the President and the President of Israel could be abducted. They kidnapped Agent Todd, supposedly to force her to help them identify Marine One from its decoys, but this guy, his name was Haswari, by the way, Ari Haswari. He freed Agent Todd, most likely to make it look like he was still on our side, and let her warn the Secret Service."

"And you shot her?"

"Not yet. Another year or so passed, and Haswari showed up again. He was running another Hamas cell in DC. They stole a naval target drone and packed it with explosives, and killed a Naval drone pilot. They cut off his hands to access his flight controller. They were going to fly the drone into a crowd of Navy families at the Norfolk docks. Gibbs, and his team, stopped the drone. But Haswari expected as much, and he intended to kill Agent Todd to hurt Gibbs."

"And you shot her, instead?"

"Sort of," Booth answered, looking a bit sheepish. "About a day before, Haswari's Mossad handler, who'd begun to grow suspicious of him, uncovered his plan to kill Agent Todd. They worked a deal with CIA, that they'd fake her death, since she was apparently perfect for some undercover op in Europe, which I still know absolutely nothing about. The handler replaced Haswari's rifle shells with convincing fakes, and doctored his trigger to send a signal when it was on the verge of firing. I was positioned on a building behind him with a silenced rifle and a muzzle flare suppressor. When I heard the tone that he was firing, I shot her so he'd think the bullet was his."

"But your bullet was fake?"

"A capsule filled with some sort of gel that looked like blood. She had some CIA pill that stopped her heart for a few minutes."

"Booth, even a capsule like that, fired from a rifle and hitting her in the head could have killed her."

"That's what I said, but I was told that she'd fractured her skull as a child. They said she had a thin ceramic plate that would protect her."

"It must have," Bones said, thoughtfully. "She's still alive." They got out of the car, and began moving toward the Jeffersonian. "It was still risky. What if you'd missed, hit her in the eye, or something?"

"Thanks for the confidence in my abilities, Bones."

"I just meant that there was still some danger involved."

"She knew that, but she took the risk to serve her country."

Brennan just nodded. "If I was ever going to let someone shoot me for my country, I'd want it to be you."

"Thanks, Bones," Booth said as he held the door for her, and they both entered the building. "Let's hope it never comes to that."


	4. Chapter 4

**CHAPTER FOUR**

Dr. Camille Saroiyan had just finished prepping three visitor authorizations. She'd only just gotten the names from Booth who'd gotten them from NCIS. She knew that Booth and Brennan should be arriving any moment, and the folks from NCIS wouldn't be too far behind. She'd worked with the FBI long enough to have heard many of the stories about their interactions with NCIS. She suspected that this case was going to be somewhat less than pleasant.

She got up from her desk and moved toward the receiving bay, where the body would be brought in. She was just in time. The blue and white NCIS medical examiner's van was just pulling in. An older gentleman, probably in his sixties, she was guessing, stepped out of the passenger side. A slender young man in his late twenties, or early thirties, with round wire-rimmed glasses got out of the driver's door.

She stepped forward to greet them, but before she could, the older man looked up at her and said, "Good heavens, you're the spitting image of…"

"Of who?" she couldn't help but ask.

"An associate at NCIS," he said after a slight hesitation. "One of our field agents. A young woman by the name of Yates. That wouldn't by chance be your name as well?"

"No, I'm afraid not," she said. Holding out her hand, she said, "I'm Dr. Saroiyan. Camille, but you can call me Cam. And you are?"

The man seemed genuinely distressed. "Of course. Please forgive my terrible lack of manners. I am Dr. Donald Mallard, Chief Medical Examiner for NCIS, although, most people just call me Ducky." He took Cam's hand and shook it gently, though his grip was firm. "And this is my assistant, Jimmy Palmer."

"A pleasure to meet you Dr. Saroiyan," Palmer said.

"Likewise," Cam said. "Ducky, huh? What an interesting nickname."

She welcomed them both, and a pair of Jeffersonian interns aided Palmer in getting the gurney out of the van. As they began to walk toward the autopsy suite, Ducky started on one of his long-winded asides, but he'd just begun when Cam's phone buzzed.

After a moment of conversation, she said, "If you'll excuse me for a moment, there is a woman at the front desk who is claiming to be part of your team, but security seems to doubt her."

"Because she's goth, is that correct?" Ducky asked.

"That's part of it," Cam said. "Is she part of your team?"

"She's our forensic scientist," he replied with a chuckle, "Abigail Sciuto. Don't let the makeup, or the outfit fool you. She's a brilliant young woman, though she does have her eccentricities. It reminds me of a time in Indonesia. I was there on a relief mission…"

"Excuse me Dr. Mallard," she said, cutting him off. I have to go and handle this." She gestured to one of the interns. "Jeff here will show you to the autopsy suite."

"Of course," Ducky said, but she was already turning away. He looked at Jeff, who appeared clean-cut, and perhaps twenty-four. "I'm certain you'll find this interesting, young man. As I was saying, Iwas in Indonesia…"

Palmer just looked down at the gurney and pushed, a tiny smirk on his face as Dr. Mallard regaled Jeff with his tale.

Cam made her way to the front desk. _What an odd man_, she couldn't help but think to herself. She rounded the corner to see a bizarre sight. A security officer was standing with a young woman, Miss Sciuto she assumed. She was dressed in a black and white outfit that seemed to something from a futuristic Japanese anime film. He skirt stopped about mid-thigh, and her black boots, with red buckles up the side no less, reached nearly to her knees, and had a good inch and a half platforms on the bottom. She had medium length black hair, in pigtails, and dark makeup, black lipstick with her pale skin. Of all things, she seemed to be clutching a laptop in one hand, and a good-sized stuffed hippopotamus in the other.

"This is way cool," she was saying to the security man. "I've always wanted to see what the inside of this place was like. I couldn't believe my ears when Ducky called and told me Gibbs wanted me to get over here asap." She pronounced it like a single word, asap, instead of an acronym. "At first, I thought I'd misheard him. Andoird Lust was playing in my lab, pretty loud."

Cam stepped forward, "Are you Abigail Sciuto?"

"Just Abby, or Abs," Abby said. "Hey you look just like, Cassie…"

"Yates," Cam finished for her. "Dr. Mallard already told me."

"Cool," Abby said, accepting the visitor's badge Cam handed her.

"If you'll follow me, I'll take you to our lab. You'll be working with Drs. Hodgins and Addy."

"Right on," Abby said, and let out a rather loud expulsion of gas. Cam couldn't help but turn and look at her. "Sorry," Abs said. "It was Burt, I squeezed him a little too hard." She demonstrated by squeezing the stuffed hippo again, and the noise repeated itself.

"Okaaay," Cam said, turning and moving again. This was going to be one very strange case.


	5. Chapter 5

**CHAPTER FIVE**

While Bones and the squints, both NCIS & Jeffersonian, were settling in to study the remains of Agent/Lieutenant Phillips, Booth made his way to the Washington Navy yard. He showed his credentials at the security station and was directed to the Major Case squad room on the third floor.

He took the elevator up. The doors opened and he started to step out, only to find himself face to face with Special Agent Todd. He froze in place. She looked at him with a small smile on her face and asked, "Getting off here, Agent Booth."

"Uh,…yeah," he stuttered, and stepped off the elevator.

"Security called and said you were on the way up," she said. "I wanted to talk to you for a moment, without anyone else around."

"Okay," he said.

"Look," she said, "I noticed you were a little uncomfortable at the crime scene, and when Gibbs told me who you were, I understood why." She paused for a moment, looking into his eyes. He held her gaze steadily, which was more than he'd been capable of earlier. "There's no problem between us," she said. "You were doing your job, and likely, you were saving my life. I wanted to say thank you." She held out her hand. "I'm Kate."

He took her hand and shook it. She had a firm grip. "Seely Booth," he said.

"Should I call you Seely, or Booth?"

"Either one is fine."

"Great," she smiled, and he couldn't help but notice she had a killer smile. He was immensely relieved that he hadn't done her any permanent harm in that crazy stunt. "Come on, "I'll introduce you to the rest of the team."

He followed her to the MCRT bullpen. All the NCIS investigators from the crime scene were there, except for Agent Gibbs.

"This is FBI Special Agent Seely Booth," Kate said. "Agent Booth, these are NCIS Special Agents Tony DiNozzo," the man who'd laughed when Booth had fallen at the crime scene, "and Timothy McGee," the younger man whom they'd referred to as Probie, "and Officer Ziva David."

_Officer_? he thought. _That doesn't seem like a federal government job title_.

They each offered a hand and a greeting, except DiNozzo, who merely nodded as he was on the phone with someone. It immediately became clear to him that Officer David was different. There was something in the way she moved, kind of a deadly grace, like a coiled spring, ready to strike. And her accent, middle-eastern perhaps. He set it aside for now.

"Where is agent Gibbs?" he asked.

"In the Director's office, briefing her on this case," McGee answered. Kate moved to a desk on the far side of McGee's, and sat. "You can use that desk there," McGee said, pointing to a small, empty desk across from Kate's.

"Got anything good yet?" Booth asked as he perched on the front of "his" desk.

"Just getting started," Kate said.

"Where are we at?" Gibbs voice came from the stairs.

"I'm talking to Lieutenant Phillips' family and close friends," DiNozzo said, dialing another number.

"I was just about to call Norfolk and find out what Lt. Phillips' assignment was before she went missing," Ziva said.

"I'm on her bank records and credit cards, looking for anything that might stand out," McGee said, while typing away.

"Kate?" Gibbs asked as he rounded the corner.

"I thought I'd go by her apartment and check it out," she said.

"Yeah," he said, "do it. And take Agent Booth there with you." Booth bit his tongue. He was used to being the one to run an investigation, but he'd agreed to let NCIS be lead on this. Kate pulled her badge and Sig-Sauer from her desk drawer. Booth stood.

"Anything you'd like to share regarding any FBI cases Lieutenant Phillips might have been working that may have a connection, Agent Booth?" Gibbs asked.

"Nothing there," he said, as he started to follow Kate to the elevator. "I figured you'd ask, so I called to check on it. Fornell said to tell you he'll double-check it personally, but it's a dead end."

Gibbs nodded once, apparently satisfied with the answer. He'd already called Fornell himself, but there was no harm in asking, just to see how open this Agent Booth intended to be. He sat behind his desk and picked up the phone. He'd look into Lt. Phillips former assignments while Ziva was checking her latest one.


	6. Chapter 6

**CHAPTER SIX**

Booth felt a little better about things after checking out Agent Phillips' apartment with Agent Todd. They'd talked in the car, and while they worked. She'd told him about her NCIS teammates, and what she said stacked up with what he'd heard. He was a bit surprised to find out that David was Mossad. Fornell hadn't told him that.

She'd politely refused to tell him about the assignment he'd taken part in. Top Secret, she'd claimed. She did tell him that it had been a huge success, but that was the scuttlebutt anyway. She assured him, again, that she held no ill will toward him for his part in that assignment. She asked about Brennan, and his work with the FBI. He asked about her time in the Secret Service.

In the course of searching her apartment, they found nothing that the FBI hadn't found when she'd first gone missing. They swung by the Hoover Building and Kate waited in the car while Booth signed out all the evidence that the FBI had from their first investigation, an address book which had been in a drawer near her phone, an answering machine tape with two messages, one from her mother, and one from a local furniture store asking about a delivery time for her new dining room set, her FBI service weapon, and a stack of mail, most of either bills or junk mail.

They were halfway back to NCIS when Kate's phone rang. She picked it up and talked for a minute, then closed it up. "Gibbs wants us to meet him at the Jeffersonian. They have something to report."

"Aah," Booth said, "the Squint Squad does it again."

"Squint Squad?" Kate asked.

"You know, squints, nerds, scientists."

Kate chuckled. "I'll have to remember that," she said.

He took the first opportunity to turn around and headed back toward the Jeffersonian. He drove fast, but after riding with Gibbs, and that one absolutely terrifying experience of riding with Ziva, it seemed completely calm.

They pulled up outside the Jeffersonian just as the rest of the NCIS team was walking in through the door. They hustled to catch up.

Booth escorted them all in, saving Cam the trouble of sending someone down. Soon enough, they were all gathered around the table upon which the remains of Tracy Phillips rested. A quick round of introductions took place. Abby was ebullient in talking about the staff and facilities of the Jeffersonian. Tony couldn't help but chuckle when Abby described Dr. Hodgins as the "bug and slime guy," a phrase she'd apparently gotten directly from him.

"Alright," Gibbs said, "enough of this. What have we got?" When no one seemed ready to respond immediately, he pointed to Ducky. "Time of death?"

"Dr. Saroiyan and I have narrowed it down, with the help of Abigail and Dr. Hodgins, to approximately twenty-three days ago."

"That's four days after she went missing," Tony said.

"She looks pretty bad for a time that short, Duck," Gibbs said.

Dr. Saroiyan jumped in. "The weather's been warmer than normal this time of year. There are also signs of animal activity on the body." She couldn't help but notice the strange looks that every one of the NCIS folk, except Ziva David, were giving her. She made a mental note to Google this Yates woman and see if they really looked so much alike.

Gibbs pointed to Brennan, "You, smart girl."

"First off," she said, "My name is Dr. Brennan." He simply gave her the patented Gibbs stare, which seemed to intimidate her not at all. "There are what appear to be compression marks on the exposed bones of her wrists, and on her ankles as well, though those are not quite as serious, indicating that she was almost certainly bound, and rather tightly, for an extended period."

"Like maybe, four days?" Tony asked.

"That would seem like a logical conclusion," she answered, "and it fits with the evidence we have."

"Do we know what she was bound with?" he asked.

"Some sort of cord, possibly nylon," Dr. Saroiyan said.

"Cause of death, Ducky?" Gibbs asked.

"I will defer to Dr. Brennan, Jethro."

Bones said, "We found a severe fracture to the Occipital bone, made by an object that was fairly small and roughly circular."

"It was most likely a basic hammer," the young man to her left, Dr. Addy said.

"Tony," Gibbs said.

"Talked to her family and her close friends, Boss. Nothing out of the ordinary there. No enemies, no financial problems they were aware of. She dated, but not a lot. Most of them described her as career oriented."

"McGee."

"Financial records check out like Tony said. Savings reasonable for an FBI agent of her level. Moderate investments, drove a mid-sized sedan, nothing terribly unusual. Abby & I are searching her computer to see if we can come up with anything."

"Ziva."

"Lieutenant Phillips was scheduled to depart two days after she disappeared. She was headed to Iraq, where she was to serve a six month tour as a special investigator attached to SIGIR. No actual specific cases had been assigned yet as hers, making it unlikely that her assignment caused her death."

"Kate and Booth."

"Her apartment has been checked before, and it's clean, Gibbs. Booth brought everything the FBI took the first time around for Abby, and the folks here to double-check."

Theories?" Gibbs asked.

"Maybe it has nothing to do with her job at the FBI, or her enlistment in the Navy," Booth said.

"Any sign of sexual assault?"

"Possibly," Dr. Saroiyan said. "We're trying to determine for sure, but the state of the remains make it difficult."

"How long?"

"At least a few hours, Jethro," Ducky said.

"And if they find anything, however long it takes the Mass Spec here to identify things," Abby put in.

"I was hoping for more," Gibbs said.

"Unfortunately, I may have just that for you, Jethro." The voice came from behind him, and he recognized it immediately as one Tobias Fornell.


	7. Chapter 7

**CHAPTER SEVEN**

"Tobias," Gibbs said, turning to face his friend, and occasional nemesis. "What are you talking about?"

Fornell climbed the steps up to the autopsy suite. He had a number of thick case folders under his arm. He passed out one each to Gibbs, DiNozzo, Booth and Saroiyan. "Your victim shows every sign of being one of several killed by a serial we've dubbed the I95 Killer."

"Never heard of him," Gibbs said.

"That's because he's struck four times in the last two weeks, up and down I95. Once outside Greensboro North Carolina, once near Richmond Virginia, Once in Jersey, outside Newark, and again in Connecticut, east of New London. The body from that abduction was found near Warwick, Rhode Island. All the bodies were found just off the Interstate. We've been trying to keep it quiet, and none of the other victims have had any military connections."

"This woman's body was found in Anacostia Park," Dr. Brennan said.

"We know," Fornell answered. "We think she might have been the first."

"Why?" from Gibbs.

"All these women were bound hand and foot, raped, and killed with blows to the head, likely from a hammer. We'll need to compare the damage from the other victims to Agent Phillips here." At this, Fornell looked to Booth and Dr. Brennan.

"We can do that," Brennan said.

"We haven't confirmed that this woman was raped," Booth put in, but he was almost certain that Fornell was right.

"You will," Tobias said. "Given the multi-jurisdictional nature of this, the Bureau will be assuming the lead in this investigation, as of now."

"Tobias," Gibbs' voice was dangerously low, just as Booth started to say, "I've already made a deal…"

"Relax, Gibbs," Tobias cut them both off. "I convinced both our Directors to share this one. Bureau is the lead agency, but I'm the head of the task force. You're more up-to-date than I am, so I see no need to yank this out from under you. You'll be calling the direct shots as lead investigator, and reporting to me. Agent Booth will serve as your second in command." There was just the hint of a smirk on his face, and a somewhat sickly expression on Gibbs'.

"What do your people have so far?" Gibbs asked.

"I'm just familiarizing myself with the files as well," Tobias said. "I've asked the Behavioral Analysis Unit to send over some people to advise you. They've been studying this for a few days now."

"Great," Gibbs said, the sarcasm in his voice plain.

Fornell leaned in close to Gibbs. "They're good people Gibbs. Let them help. I've already informed them that you are the lead investigator."

"I already have a profiler," Gibbs said, nodding his head in Kate's direction.

"With all due respect to Agent Todd," Tobias said, "she's a gifted amateur at profiling. These people are the best in the world. Use them."

As if on cue, a pair of men in dark suits entered. Both had dark hair. One was somewhat older than the other. The younger of the two stepped up with the older man a half step behind.

"SSA Aaron Hotchner," Fornell said, indicating the younger man, "and SSA David Rossi, this is NCIS Special Agent Jethro Gibbs, the lead investigator on this case." The men shook hands.

"That's Rossi," Tony whispered to Ziva and Kate. "I've read his books. The guy's a legend."

With a single voice they responded, "You've read a book?" He just grinned at them both.

"I can see it's already pretty crowded up here," Hotchner said, but I'd like to bring in the rest of my team if that's alright with you." He directed the request to Gibbs, rather than Fornell.

"Yeah, get them in here," Gibbs answered, clearly impatient to move forward.

Hotchner pulled out a cell phone and hit speed-dial. "Come on in, and hustle," he said.

In less than a minute, several more Feds had arrived, a tall, athletic looking man of African-American descent and a shaven head, a slender beanpole of a man with medium brown hair who barely looked old enough to shave, let alone be an FBI profiler, a somewhat heavy-set woman, with glasses and light colored hair, carrying a laptop, and two women, both slender and attractive, one with long, straight blonde hair, and the other with dark brown hair, roughly shoulder length, and a serious expression.

The new arrivals were introduced as SSA Derek Morgan, Dr. Spencer Reid, Forensic Technician Penelope Garcia, SSA Jennifer Jareau, and SSA Emily Prentiss.

Fornell gestured to Jethro, as if to say _It's your show_.


	8. Chapter 8

Sorry for the long delay in posting. I'd like to note that I know next to nothing about forensics, DNA, or profiling. What little I do know, I picked up watching shows like NCIS, Bones & Criminal Minds. Any mistakes are solely my own. I appreciate all the reviews and messages I've received from folk on this board. I hope you all continue to enjoy.

**CHAPTER EIGHT**

"Agent Hotchner," Gibbs said, "what have you got?"

"We've been working on this for a few days now, and in this last hour or so we've been adding Agent Phillips murder into the profile." He turned to the older man and said, "Dave…"

Rossi stepped up next to a large white board, which was set off to one side of the room. He picked up a black, dry erase, marker and began writing on the board, leaving some empty space on the left. He wrote _**Natalie Davis**_ and, using a bit of tape supplied by Dr. Reid, he taped a picture of an attractive, young African-American woman under the name. "We originally believed that Natalie Davis was the first victim of this killer. She is twenty-seven, approximately five-six, and a hundred thirty seven pounds. Black hair and dark brown eyes. Pretty girl. She was a registered nurse, working in the neo-natal unit of the Richmond Presbyterian Hospital. She disappeared eighteen days ago, around four in the morning, just after working a long shift, including several hours overtime. Her car was still in the parking lot, so Richmond police assumed she'd never reached the car. We agree. Her body was found twenty miles up the road, in a culvert alongside the road. There were ligature marks on the wrists and ankles. Signs on sexual assault. Virginia M.E. determined that she'd been killed by a blow to the head from what was most likely a common hammer. Her hyoid bone was also broken, indicating that, at some point, she'd been strangled. It might be part of some sort of ritual sexual act. Her roommate, Kelly Wade confirmed that she'd been dating an investment banker, named Ted Reichs. State Department, and MI5 both confirmed Mr. Reichs attendance at a conference in London at the time of the murder."

He handed the marker to Dr. Reid and stepped aside. Reid handed the tape to Morgan, who stepped up next to him as he began to write on the board. _**Cheryl Ann Kingman**_. He taped up a picture of a pretty blonde, wearing a UNC-Greensboro sweatshirt. "Victim number two, Cheryl Ann Kingman," Reid began. Tony was amused to note that his voice was soft and almost childlike. It seemed to fit the slight man. His amusement washed away as he forced himself to remember the topic Dr. Reid was addressing. "Cheryl Ann worked evenings at a coffee shop, called Mike's, just off I-95, as a waitress. During the day, she went to the University of North Carolina-Greensboro. She was a junior, majoring in Internet Technologies. Lived alone, in a small apartment, off campus. She was Caucasian, twenty-one years old, with long, straight blonde hair, which she wore up, in a ponytail for work, and blue eyes. She weighed one hundred and twenty-eight pounds. She was single, and not currently dating anyone, according to her sister, Erica. She left work on the evening of the eleventh, fourteen days ago, at nine p.m. She didn't show for class the next day. Her friends went to check on her. Her car was at her apartment, but she was not. Her body was found in woods, just off the highway three days later. She also showed signs of sexual assault, and ligature marks. According to the local M.E., cause of death was strangulation, and her skull was cracked from a serious blow. Likely the same weapon as Natalie Davis. We think the Unsub may have gotten carried away with the strangulation and killed her that way by mistake. If so, it is very telling that he still hit her with the hammer. It shows a degree of rage."

Most of the folk around the platform were more than a little disturbed by the pattern forming, but it was not anything they hadn't seen before. Of course, that didn't make it better. Something was tickling at the back of Kate's brain, but it hadn't fully coalesced yet.

Reid stepped aside, handing the marker to Morgan. Prentiss stepped up to take the tape. Morgan wrote _**Melody Wright**_ on the board, and underneath, he taped up a picture of a pretty brunette with mischievous eyes. He spoke. "Melody Wright was a police officer in Newark, traffic division. She disappeared, while working a shift in bad neighborhood in east Newark on the fourteenth, eleven days ago. Her ticket pad was found in an alley nearby her vehicle. Newark PD and FBI have both canvassed the neighborhood multiple times. No witnesses. According to her radio calls to base, she disappeared sometime after four in the afternoon, which was when she had her last contact with base, and before six, which was when she was scheduled to end her shift. Her body was found in southern Connecticut, in a wooded area off I-95 in Fairfield three days later. She'd also been bound and raped. Fractured hyoid and the same hammer-blow to the back of her skull. This time, though, our boy got a little careless. We found two pubic hairs, male, on the victim. DNA profiling suggests that they came from a man of Caucasian descent."

At that point, Gibbs interrupted, "The results from that test are among the files and evidence you brought?"

Morgan pointed to a good-sized box lying on the floor next to the autopsy table. "Right in there. You'll find the test reports, and one of the two physical hairs."

Gibbs pointed at Abby. "Double-check it Abs." She didn't actually speak, but acknowledged the order with a mock salute, with her left hand, which elicited a small grin from Gibbs, as it usually did.

"Wrong hand," Gibbs and Booth both said at the same time. Abby chuckled and saluted again, with her right hand this time. "You ran the DNA, Agent Morgan?" Gibbs asked.

"Against every database we could find, including Interpol," Morgan answered. "No matches."

"He's not in the system," Gibbs said. "Go on."

"Melody Wright was five foot nine, and weighed around one hundred forty-three pounds. Her hair was medium brown, cut in a bob, and she had hazel eyes. She was thirty-one years old, married, to another Newark cop. They had one daughter, Jessica, age five. Her husband, Richie, was on duty during her abduction, riding patrol with his partner, Tyler Farris. They responded to two calls from four to six on that day."

As Morgan stepped aside, Prentiss stepped up. Tony couldn't help but smile. She was beautiful, and a brunette. Just his type. He huffed as Ziva's elbow connected with his stomach. Kate couldn't stop her grin. Morgan seemed amused as well. Hotchner and Gibbs both looked to be slightly annoyed. Prentiss began to write on the board, _**Isabel Rodriguez**_. She accepted a piece of tape from Hotch, who'd stepped up beside her. She taped up a picture of an attractive Latina. "Isabel Rodriguez," she said. "She worked nights as a cocktail waitress at a bar called Panama Jack's in Mystic, Connecticut, roughly four miles from I-95. She disappeared on the night of the twentieth, five days ago, likely from her gym. A co-worker told us she worked out every day before work. The gym has an electronic card members swipe when they enter and leave. She swiped in at three-thirty, and out at four-thirty-six. Her car was still in the lot. Her manager called the police when she didn't show up for work two days in a row. Her body turned up in a field alongside the highway, south of Providence three days later. Same Modus Operandi. She'd been bound, raped, strangled and killed by a blow to the head, from a hammer. Rhode Island M.E.'s report is in with the others, in the blue folder," she pointed to another box near the autopsy table. She looked directly at Ducky and Dr. Brennan when she pointed. "Isabel was twenty-five, of Latin descent, black hair, and brown eyes. Her hair was medium length and straight. She was five-foot seven, and weighed around one hundred thirty pounds. She was single, and dated quite a bit, but no one serious lately."

Gibbs looked at the board. Each agent had jotted down dates and relevant information under the corresponding picture. "If he's still on the same pattern, he's likely got another girl already, or he's about to take another."

"That's what we're afraid of, Jethro," Fornell spoke up.

"Why do you think Lt. Phillips was the first?" Gibbs asked Hotch. "There could be other bodies out there somewhere."

"That's very true, Agent Gibbs," Hotch said. "However, she is all we have to work with right now."

Gibbs nodded, and waved him on. Hotch stepped to the board and taped up a picture of Tracy Phillips on the left edge. He wrote _**Tracy Phillips**_ above it. "Tracy Phillips disappeared somewhere between her house in Alexandria and the Washington Navy Yard. She'd taken a leave of absence from the FBI, made necessary due to her being called up to active duty with the Navy. She'd been assigned as a special investigator for SIGIR, the Special Inspector-General for Iraqi Reconstruction. She disappeared twenty-seven days ago, making her the first known victim by nine days. As you know, her body was discovered early this morning. As Drs. Mallard, Brennan, Saroiyan and Addy have informed us, she was bound, and her hyoid was broken. She was killed by a similar blow to the head, from a hammer. We fully expect that she will turn out to have been raped. She was five foot five, and one hundred nineteen pounds. Her hair was brown and naturally curly, medium length, her eyes green. She was thirty years old, and single. According to her parents, and her friends, she broke up with her last boyfriend roughly four months ago. He was a marine, killed in Iraq about a month after they broke up. No one has managed to find her car. FBI currently has teams searching the Anacostia near where her body was found."

"What does it all add up to?" Gibbs asked.

Rossi stepped up to answer the question. "We believe that the Unsub is most likely Caucasian, male obviously, between twenty-eight and forty-five."

"He's most likely of middle-class or lower-middle-class background, with a blue collar type job," Morgan jumped in.

Reid said, "He's probably not very successful with women. He'll have suffered at the hands of a woman at some point in his life. Most likely, some recent event will have triggered his first violent outburst, against Tracy Phillips."

"He's unusual though, for a serial," Prentiss put in. "They usually pick one type of woman, and stick to that type, often one who reminds them of whoever caused them their own pain. This killer has targeted a different type of woman on each occasion, different appearances, ages, jobs, places, etc."

"They're all pretty," Tony said. Kate looked at him, as if she'd expected no less of him. Ziva nodded in agreement, with which one of them, Gibbs wasn't sure.

"They were also taken at different times of day," McGee put in.

"We believe that chloroform may have been used," Prentiss put in. "The tests were inconclusive, but with both the third and fourth victims, there were minute traces that could have been chloroform. It would help explain how he abducted a policewoman off the street."

"Alright," Gibbs said, "any other patterns?"

"All the victims were taken from cities along the I-95 corridor, and all the bodies were found within ten miles of that highway," Rossi said.

"All the victims were fairly young, between twenty-one and thirty-one," JJ said.

"They were all bound, raped, strangled and bludgeoned with a hammer," Morgan said.

Booth looked to Brennan, "Anything to add?"

"From the positioning of the fracture on the victim's skull," she gestured to Tracy Phillips' body on the autopsy table, and from what I can see in these photographs of the other victims," she'd been leafing through the other files as the BAU had been presenting the cases, "I'd say the attacker is of average height and he is almost certainly left handed."

"Virginia M.E. suspected the same," Hotch said.

"Oh my goodness," Kate said.

"What?" The question came from Gibbs, Hotch, Fornell and Booth almost simultaneously.

"I think they might have something else in common," Kate said.

"Spit it out, Agent Todd," Gibbs growled.

She looked at Agent Hotchner and asked, "Can you tell me what each victim was wearing?"

"They were all found without any clothing," he answered.

Prentiss jumped in, "I don't think that was what she meant, Hotch." She and Kate shared a smile. "We should have seen it." Gibbs smiled, seeing where Kate was going with this. Prentiss moved to one of the boxes with the files. She leafed through a few pages and said, "Uniforms. Some type of uniform."

She went on, "If she was headed to the Navy Yard, Tracy would have been in her whites. Leaving the hospital, Natalie would likely have been in scrubs, the waitresses at Mike's coffee shop wear little yellow dresses and aprons, Melody was taken on duty, in her police uniform, and I'm betting that all the girls at Panama Jack's, including Isabel, wore short black dresses."

"Or short black skirts, and white shirts," Tony added. Morgan grinned. He'd been thinking the same thing.

"Good thinking, for a gifted amateur, Kate," Gibbs said, with a sideways glance at Fornell, who merely shrugged.

"Alright," Gibbs said. "We need more information. He's going to strike again, if he hasn't already." He turned to Hotchner. "Leave me three of your people. I'll take Rossi, Morgan and Prentiss. Take the rest and go back to the FBI. I need a list of all people reported missing in the last 10 days, anywhere east of the Mississippi. Narrow down the list to any who might fit our new victimology."

"We've already started that. I'll get you the list as soon as we've finished narrowing it down. I'll leave Garcia with you as well. She'll be able to co-ordinate with your tech folks, and act as a sort of information liaison."

Gibbs started to object, when Abby cut him off. "Take her, bossman. Pen is maybe the best I've ever seen, sorry McGee." McGee did look a bit incredulous at Abby's pronouncement. But, it was good enough for Gibbs.

"You know each other?" he asked.

"We met at a conference at the Greenbriar two years ago. She rocks," Abby said. Garcia just laughed.

"Alright, fine," Gibbs said. Hotch nodded once and headed out, with JJ and Reid in tow.

"Abby, you and Ducky get cracking on getting the remains of the other four victims here to the Jeffersonian. Dr. Brennan, you and your people go over them with a fine toothed comb. Find me something else to go on." Brennan found herself liking this man. He was straightforward, and he seemed to care very little about the social niceties that most folk were caught up in. And, she had to admit, he was very handsome. Angela couldn't help but grin as she watched her friend give Gibbs an appraising look. Anyone else would see it nothing more than a glance. Angela knew better.

"Okay," Brennan said. Nothing more, just that.

"DiNozzo, David and Prentiss," you three take Natalie Davis and Cheryl Ann Kingman. Dig into their backgrounds, re-conduct interviews, check their apartments, everything."

"On it, Boss," Tony said. He and Ziva started toward the door, Prentiss hurrying after them.

"Todd, McGee and Morgan, you three take Meldoy Wright and Isabel Rodriguez."

"Right away, Boss," McGee said. The three agents followed their colleagues toward the door.

"I take it you and I will be looking into Tracy Phillips," Rossi said.

"And Agent Booth," Gibbs said. "Abby, when you're done with the transfers of remains, you help Garcia."

"Your wish is my command, oh Mighty Gibbs!"

Garcia laughed again. She stepped next to her friend and whispered, "Is he always like this?"

"Oh, yeah," the goth scientist whispered back. Dr. Addy just shook his head in bewilderment.

Gibbs started moving toward the door, Rossi beside him. He looked back over his shoulder, at Booth. "You coming?"

"Yeah," Booth said, grabbing his jacket and running to catch up. "Let's get this bastard."

After a moment, Fornell chuckled to himself and left to return to the Hoover Building. Gibbs, Rossi and Booth. Now that was a trio. Three loners, three hard-headed men, and three of the best damned investigators he'd ever known. He almost felt sorry for the bastard they were hunting,…almost.


	9. Chapter 9

**CHAPTER NINE**

What followed was three days of near total frustration, for all those involved. Ziva, Emily and Tony spent three days re-interviewing everyone in Richmond and Greensboro, who was even mentioned in the original police reports. They also went back to the suspected scene of the abduction and walked through it, sharing theories on how it all might have happened. In the end, they came away with very little beyond a burgeoning new friendship.

Ziva found that she liked Emily a lot. She was strong and assertive, and smart. Emily liked Ziva just as much, though she tended to cringe a bit when Ziva threatened Tony with physical violence, which seemed to be about once every hour or two. However, before the end of the first day, she could see that there was something between them. She'd been attracted to the handsome NCIS Agent at first, and he certainly seemed the kind to flirt a bit, but he hadn't, at least not with her.

Kate, Morgan and McGee didn't have much better luck in Newark and Mystic. They did all the same things as their colleagues in the South, but came up just about as empty, with one tiny exception. Of course, it didn't seem like much at the time, but down the road, that tiny fact would loom large.

Back in DC, Gibbs was driving Booth insane. The man had a reputation as a bastard to work for, and Booth could see that the rumors didn't come close to doing him justice. To make matters worse, he seemed cordial, even polite with Rossi. Booth respected Rossi as much as anyone else, the man was practically a legend in the law enforcement community, but he figured that shouldn't mean Booth got a double ration of Gibbs while Rossi got none.

"Let's go over it again," Gibbs said, sipping on his ever-present coffee.

Rossi moved to the plasma screen in the middle of the NCIS bullpen and clicked the remote device in his hand. A map of the East coast came up, from South Carolina to southern Maine. The sites of the abductions were denoted by red dots, and the sites from which the bodies were recovered were denoted by blue dots. Since they weren't sure where Tracy Phillips had been taken, the red dot for her was at her apartment in Silver Springs.

"We began by looking at the pattern of the abductions and the placement of the bodies," Rossi said.

"All taken from places within a few miles of I-95 and all, except Tracy Phillips dumped within a half-mile of that highway," Booth said.

"The first possibility it suggested was someone involved in commercial transportation, trucking or some other related field," Rossi said.

"The timing is wrong," Gibbs said. "There is too much time between abductions and too little distance between the sites. If he's working in commercial transport, he'd be a major problem for his company. The delays and slow movement rate would be killing them."

"We came to the same conclusion," Rossi said.

"It would make sense, though," Booth said. "Most of those big rigs these days have beds in the back, just about everything he'd need, especially the privacy to do whatever he wanted to those girls, and then be ready to dump them and move on."

"FBI double-checked with all the trucking companies up and down the East coast," Rossi said. "There are several who work similar routes, but none who could place any of their drivers in the right places at the right times."

"We also checked every hotel, motel, inn and lodge within a twenty-five mile radius of the abduction and dump sites. No commonalities among the registered guests," Booth said.

"He could be a private guy," Gibbs said. "One truck."

"We're still working on that," Booth said. "It's gonna take some time."

"Still," Rossi said, "if that was the case, you'd expect him to be hustling to make ends meet. The pattern here shows slow, almost snail-like pace of movement."

"A big truck like that would stand out at some of these scenes," Booth said. Gibbs took a sip of his coffee and nodded for him to go on. "Tracy Phillips was found in Anacostia Park. No big rigs allowed in there."

"We never found her car," Rossi said. "He could have used it to dump her body in the park, and then ditched it."

"What if he didn't?" Gibbs asked.

"Didn't what?" from Rossi.

"What if he didn't ditch her car," Gibbs said, pulling out a file and opening it. "Dark blue Volkswagon Jetta, two-thousand and seven, Maryland plate Alpha, Foxtrot, Whiskey, one, four, niner."

"We've already got a BOLO out on it," Booth said.

"He could have put different plates on it," Rossi said.

"It would explain some things," Booth said, "but it raises other questions." Gibbs raised an eyebrow, as if curious. Booth continued. "If he's using her car to move around without being noticed, he'd have to leave his rig somewhere while doing that. And, he'd have to be able to move both together. Is he towing the Jetta behind his rig? Is he in a moving van with the car inside? Does he drive a car carrier with a two year old Jetta on top?"

"What if there are two of them?" Rossi said.

Booth flipped open his cell and hit the speed dial for Brennan. "Hey, Bones," he said after a moment. "We think there might be two killers involved. You find anything that might point us in that direction?" Gibbs and Rossi waited as he listened to her on the other end. "Okay," he said, "let me know ASAP."

He closed the phone and said, "She's not sure, but she thought there might be some irregularities with one of the victims, Cheryl Ann Kingman. They're double-checking things now. She'll call as soon as they have something concrete."

The elevator doors opened and a very weary-looking troop emerged, Ziva first, followed by Tony and Prentiss. They reported their lack of success in finding any new leads. Afterward, Rossi filled them in on what he, Booth, and Gibbs had been spit-balling.

"It's a possibility," Prentiss said. "Serial killers who work in pairs are rare, but not unheard of."

"It reminds me of those two down in Sarasota last month," Rossi said.

They got back to working, Prentiss and Ziva sharing Ziva's desk, Booth at Kate's, Tony at his own, and Rossi at McGee's. About forty minutes later, Booth's cell began to ring.

"Talk to me, Bones," he said as he flipped it open. "You're certain? Okay, thanks. I'll get back to you." He turned to the others, including Morgan, McGee, & Todd, who'd just arrived, "We've got a tentative confirmation. Bones and Zack believe that the marks on the skulls, from the hammers indicate a right-handed killer, except for Cheryl Ann Kingman. They think the killer in that case was left-handed. They're also checking to see if the hyoid bones might back up that theory."

"Two killers?" McGee asked. "How did that come up?" The team went through the process again of describing what they'd learned, and what they suspected. When they came to the part about the killers keeping Tracy Phillips car, McGee interrupted.

"Did you say a dark blue Jetta?"

"Why?" Gibbs asked. "You got something."

"Maybe, Boss," McGee said, and started digging into his backpack. He pulled out his laptop and set it on the edge of Gibbs' desk and knelt down in front of it. "I think it's in my notes here," he said. After a moment, he said, "Got it."

"What have you got, McGee," Gibbs asked, leaning down over his shoulder. The others gathered around to listen.

"We were in Newark, re-doing the interviews, like you asked. We were talking to the folks in a run-down building near where they found Melody Wright's parking enforcement vehicle, and I noticed some kids watching us. I talked to them for a minute while Morgan and Kate were talking to some of the tenants. One of them mentioned seeing a dark green Volkswagon in a nearby alley. He thought she would write a ticket for it. There was no ticket issued for a green Volkswagon, and it was not the right color, plus I had no plates, so I assumed it was a local who drove off before she reached the car."

"They could have re-painted it, as well as changing the plates, "DiNozzo said. "Did the kid see anyone around the car?"

"No, but there was something else."

"What, McGee?" Gibbs asked.

"There was something about the way he described the car to me. He said it looked like the front corner was banged up, and when I asked him the color, he hesitated. I didn't think it was real important at the time."

"If they were involved in an accident with Tracy Phillips, that might be the event that triggered all this," Prentiss said.

Rossi seemed thoughtful. "It might not have been a real accident," he said. "They could have staged it."

"If it was an accident," Morgan said, "maybe she said something to upset them."

"And they raped and killed her?" Gibbs asked.

"Might have been a crime of opportunity," Morgan answered. "If the accident happened someplace where they had privacy. They grabbed her, raped her and killed her. Put her in her own car and drove her to Anacostia Park, where they dumped the body."

Prentiss picked up from there, "They enjoyed themselves. It made them feel powerful, so they kept on with it."

"But they're smart," Rossi said. "They take their time. They prepare, they watch before they make their moves. That's why they're moving slowly."

"The right-handed one is dominant," Kate said. "He killed each girl with the hammer. The only time he didn't use the hammer, on Cheryl Ann, she died of strangulation. He reserves the kill for himself." Rossi nodded at her approvingly.

Finally, McGee said, "I'd like to go back there and talk to the boy again, Boss."

"Yeah, do it," Gibbs said. His gut had begun to churn. He was certain they were on to something. "Take Booth with you." Rossi's phone began to ring.

"Hotch," Rossi said. "We've got some developments here." He paused for several minutes, listening to Hotchner. "When? Okay, I'll handle things on this end. Thanks."

Gibbs knew what was coming. He didn't know how he knew, but he knew. Rossi said, "Another girl has been reported missing. Hotch thinks it is our guys. Little town just over the border in New Hamphire."

"Why does he assume it is our guys?" Morgan asked.

"Her name is Lydia Kincaide, eighteen, high school senior, abducted while walking from her house to Catholic school a half mile away."

"Uniform," DiNozzo, Kate, Ziva and Morgan all said in near unison. For some reason, Ziva looked amused, Kate annoyed (at Tony), DiNozzo looked embarrassed, and Morgan, after looking at the other three, confused.

"How long ago?" Gibbs asked, glancing at his watch. It was just after one in the afternoon.

"Parents said she left at around seven this morning," Rossi said. "School called the mother at her job about the daughter's absence. She drove home. When she didn't find her daughter there, she started toward the school. A flash of color caught her eye, and she pulled over. Found the girl's book bag on the side of the road at the edge of some woods about a quarter-mile from the house. She called the local LEO's, and they called us."

"They could have had her for five hours now," Gibbs said. He looked at McGee and Booth. "Are you two still here? Get going. Meet us in New Hampshire when you're done." He shooed them away, and turned back to the others.

"I'll put out a BOLO on a dark green, blue or black Jetta with front end damage," Ziva said, stepping back to her desk and picking up the phone.

"I'll get on the horn with the State Police in every New England state, and New York," Morgan said, "Make sure they know what we need, and what to be looking for."

"I'll contact the local LEO's," Tony said, "and tell them we're on the way."

"I'll get us on a flight out of Dulles," Kate said.

"Don't bother," Prentiss told her. "The FBI has a plane standing by at Reagan National."

"Go home, get what you need for a few days," Gibbs said. "Be at Reagan in forty-five minutes." With that, he strode away and took the stairs two at a time on his way up to the Director's office. As he reached the top, he called back down and said, "And Kate, get hold of Ducky and Sciuto at the Jeffersonian. Tell them to meet us at the airport, and have them bring Dr. Brennan." With that, he disappeared through the door.

The various members of the two teams quickly began to do as they'd been asked. Rossi smiled as he watched them. He couldn't help but like Gibbs. There was something about him that made people take notice when he spoke. He started toward the elevator to pack a few things himself.


	10. Chapter 10

**CHAPTER TEN**

By four o'clock that afternoon, most of the NCIS team, as well as their current BAU partners were in the police station in Rye, New Hampshire, listening to the local chief of police, one Warren Westerman, as he filled them in on all the details that he and his men had been able to gather. There wasn't much to go on. The team now had a recent photo of the missing girl, Lydia Kincaide. She was pretty, with long, straight hair, the color of honey, and big, bright green eyes. She was also, almost impossibly young. Gibbs' gut clenched just a bit. He would find these bastards before they killed her. He wasn't even sure if he was making that silent promise to himself, or to Lydia.

Just as the Chief was wrapping up his presentation, Gibbs' cell began to ring. He flipped it open, as the team, almost as one, turned to listen.

"Yeah, Gibbs."

"Gibbs," Abby nearly shouted on the other end, "we've got something for you." With uncharacteristic patience, he waited for her to go on, as he put the phone on speaker so the team could hear without him having to explain. "Pen and I, we were working on some of the periphery stuff, and we decided to go back over some of the independent trucking companies. We didn't find much, until I had the idea to check any that closed recently. We limited our search to…"

"Get to the point, Abs," Gibbs cut in grouchily, feeling as though he'd waited long enough for her to get to the point.

"Good point, Gibbs," she said. "There's no time to waste. So, we found a company called Mara Trucking. They shut down about six months ago. It was owned by Will and Eric Mara, brothers. They had two big rigs, until a major accident with another semi took out Eric's rig last year. He was in the hospital for four months recovering from several broken bones, and he lost his right hand. They couldn't survive with just the one truck, so they shut down. Shortly after that, the company that owned the truck that hit Eric's settled a lawsuit with them. They gave them just over six million dollars."

"Where are they located?" Gibbs asked.

"Their company operated out of DC, just off I-95. We checked their routes, and they have been working routes over the past several years that put them in close proximity to every abduction and dump site."

"Get me the…"

Before he could finish the sentence, Garcia cut in, "The registration & description of their rig and personal vehicle? I already sent it all to Prentiss' and Rossi's blackberrys, along with licenses and recent photos."

"DiNozzo, Prentiss," Gibbs started.

"BOLOs on the brothers and their vehicles, on it Boss!" DiNozzo said, motioning Prentiss and a local cop to follow him.

"There's more, Gibbs," Abby said, "but I need you to take me off the speaker phone."

He did as she asked and said, "Go on Abs."

"It turns out that both brothers have sealed Juvie records. Pen asked Agent Hotchner to find a judge who would order them unsealed, but I knew you wouldn't want to wait, so I had her hack them. Eric was busted at sixteen, for attempted rape, including strangling the girl he was dating in school. He pled out, and the records were sealed. No DNA evidence was taken at the time. Will was busted for killing cats and small dogs in their neighborhood when he was fifteen. He hit them…"

"In the head with a hammer," Gibbs finished for her. "That's good work Abs."

"Find them Gibbs," she said. "Don't let them hurt anyone else."

"Whoa," Garcia's voice came from the background. "Abs, look at this."

"Got something else, Gibbs," Abby said. "Looks like the BAU was wrong about Lt. Phillips being the Mara brothers' first victim. They had a rough childhood. Their mother died when they were three. Father re-married, a naval ensign, named Mary Cruz. Apparently, Mr. Mara was abusive, both with the boys and his wives. Ensign Cruz killed him in self-defense one night, when the boys were thirteen. When they were fourteen, she disappeared."

"She was probably their first kill," Gibbs said quietly. "As soon as those records are unsealed, you get us all this through channels."

"Yes, sir," Garcia said.

Gibbs turned to the Chief. "You got a good map of the town, especially the areas within a mile or two of the Interstate?"

"Yeah, sure," the other man answered, leading them to another room, where a large map of the town and the nearby towns on all sides hung on the wall. There were pins marking the locations of the Kincaide house, the school, and the site where Lydia's backpack had been found.

"Morgan and Todd," Gibbs said, "co-ordinate with the Chief and his people. I want a search grid mapped out in the next fifteen minutes. We're going to go over this area with a fine-toothed comb. We will be looking for the suspected perps and any of their vehicles, as well as Lt. Phillips' Jetta. Each search team will be two of us, and one local." His phone again began to ring.

Picking up, he answered, "Yeah, Gibbs."

"Boss," McGee's excited voice came on the line. "We found the boy again. Turns out that he's color-blind. His mother told us. He can't really distinguish between red, green and blue. He admitted that he was with a friend when he saw the Jetta, and the friend says it was definitely blue."

"Good work," McGee. "Now you and Booth get your asses up here a.s.a.p. Call Abby and have her fill you in, on the way." With that, Gibbs snapped shut his cell. Turning back to his team, he said, "DiNozzo and Prentiss, David & Rossi, Morgan & Todd, get with a local officer and get started. I'll ride with Chief Westerman. Radios on Tac two."

"Tac two," came the chorus of responses. Morgan and Todd were finishing up their search grid, and they began explaining who was to cover what territory. Five minutes later, all three of the local police vehicles, as well as an FBI Suburban, driven by Rossi, were on the road.

It was Rossi, Ziva, and an Officer named Bingham, who found the brothers', or at least their truck and Lt. Phillips' Jetta. Ziva called it in to Gibbs on the radio. "We have found them, Gibbs."

"Where are you?"

"Just off of exit four, behind what appears to be an old factory."

Bingham put in, "Used to be a paper mill until it shut down, fifteen years ago."

"That's in West Rye, out of our jurisdiction," Chief Westerman said. "It's the next town over."

"Not today," Gibbs shot back. "This is a Federal case, under my direction. You and your men can consider yourselves temporary Federal deputies. David, have you been spotted?"

"I do not think so," Ziva answered. They might be inside the building, or it is possible that they are hiding in the back part of the truck. No one is currently visible."

"Stay out of sight and watch them," Gibbs answered. "We're on our way. Everyone converge on that location, quietly." Turning to the Chief, he said, "Do you get on alright with the Chief in West Rye?"

"Jeff Murray? I play poker with him and Chief Campbell from Exeter, and a few Officers from our respective departments once a month."

"Get him on the phone. Explain the situation. Tell him to have his men set up a half-mile perimeter around this mill, and do it quietly. We don't want to spook them." The Chief simply nodded and hit speed-dial on his cell. The Officer driving them gunned the accelerator as they hit the highway on-ramp. "How long to get there?" Gibbs asked him.

"Three, four minutes tops, Sir," the Officer replied.

"Don't call me Sir." The driver just nodded.

Officer Glenn was as good as his word. In three and a half minutes, Gibbs' group and DiNozzo's arrived at just about the same time, pulling up behind the tree line, keeping the light woods between themselves and the mill. David, Rossi and Bingham were already in the trees, keeping an eye on the building. Morgan, Todd, and another Officer were waiting at the edge of the road for Gibbs.

"The drive over here," Kate pointed to her left, seems to be the only way in or out, except through the trees on foot. Still no movement from the building, or the truck. There are doors into the building from the North, South and East."

The entire group was now clustered around Gibbs. "David and DiNozzo, move through the woods, get on the North side. Rossi and Prentiss, take the East, Morgan and Todd the West. The Chief and I will take the South. Chief, have your men take up positions on the North, East and West, about twenty yards behind my teams. No one gets past them. Officer Glenn here will move the Suburban to block the drive as we move in, and then cover the South." He waited until everyone had nodded that they indeed understood the plan thus far, and their assignments. He went on. "On my signal, DiNozzo and David will move in on the truck. The South and East teams will move through the doorways and clear the building. Todd and Morgan will support DiNozzo and David after approaching from the West, and then move through the South doorway if the perps aren't in the truck. DiNozzo & David will cover from outside if they don't find them in the truck. Any questions?" There were none. "Get moving," Gibbs said, drawing his Sig, and checking the clip.

Rossi spoke up, stopping everyone for a moment. "We have to assume that they are armed and dangerous, but we have to get at least one of them alive, unless we can verify that the victim is here first."

Gibbs nodded in agreement, and then waved them off. He felt his gut churning. They were here, and so was she. They were going down, soon.


	11. Chapter 11

Sorry for the long time between updates. I've been very busy. Earlier this week, I made a deal with Cara T. Jacklin, that if she would get an update up for her excellent story, Just for the Weekend, I'd update here. It took a little doing, but here is my end of the bargain. I hope everyone enjoys. **Fair warning,** in this chapter, as is quite often the case in life, there are some unpleasant things. Some are hinted at, and others outright described. I tried to keep it from being overly graphic, & I think I succeeded. I hope you all agree. I considered putting the M rating back, but I don't think it was quite necessary. Please let me know if you disagree. Anyway, enjoy, G

**CHAPTER ELEVEN**

Tony and Ziva crouched at the edge of the tree-line, awaiting a signal from Gibbs. Neither of them was scared, or even nervous, at least not for themselves. They'd both been in more than enough life and death situations to mostly be past such things. However, both were a little bit afraid for Lydia.

"She'll come out of this okay, Ziva," Tony said.

She looked at him, out of the side of her eye, a small smirk on her face. "I would not make the same assumption about the Mara brothers."

"What are you planning, Zee-vah?" Tony asked, drawing out the syllables of her name as he was wont to do, though he already had a good idea.

"Let us just say that, even if they live through this, they will wish that they had not resisted arrest."

Just to play along he asked, "What makes you think they'll resist arrest?" The return of the little smirk was all the answer he got.

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Across the way, Morgan and Kate were also crouched down awaiting the go signal. She ejected the clip from her Sig, double-checked that there was a round in the chamber, and re-inserted the clip, fingering the safety to the off position. Morgan smiled, and did the same with his own weapon.

"When the signal comes," he said, "I'll head for those barrels while you cover me. I'll cover you to the door, and then join you, and we'll go in." There was nothing questioning in the way he said it, as if he just expected that she'd follow his lead. It was a good plan, pretty much exactly what she'd been thinking. Morgan reminded her of Gibbs in some ways. And he was gorgeous. If she hadn't already found the man of her dreams, he'd have had a damned good shot of becoming that man.

"Okay," she said. There was something in her tone which told Morgan he might have overstepped a bit.

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On the East side, Rossi and Prentiss had already worked out their approach strategy. They were waiting patiently, comfortable with one another's presence, and with the knowledge that each would have the other's back inside the mill.

"She's probably still alive," Prentiss said, though she knew that Rossi would know that as well as she did.

"She is," he agreed. "They like to take their time. It's possible they haven't even assaulted her yet."

"God, let's hope not." She didn't really believe it, but she prayed they were right. "Maybe we should have waited for the HRT team."

"No," Rossi said. "I agree with Gibbs. We need to go now. The toughest spot will be the truck, but DiNozzo and David can handle it."

"You seem pretty sure of that."

"I've read the files on both of them. She's as good as any HRT member, maybe any two HRTs, and DiNozzo may seem like a goof-off, but he's the finest pistol shot at NCIS, and that includes his boss, the ex-sniper."

"High praise," Prentiss said. Rossi just chuckled in response.

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Gibbs and Chief Westerman were ducked low, watching the front of the mill. "We gonna go in, or what?" the Chief asked.

"Yeah," Gibbs answered. "just not yet."

"What are we waiting for?"

"My gut." The Chief seemed confused by this, and surprisingly enough, Gibbs was inclined to explain. "My gut is telling me that if we move now, the Lydia Kincaide will end up dead."

"When do we move then?"

"Soon," Gibbs said. "Won't be long." At that moment, there was a beep from the handheld walkie-talkie he carried, followed by DiNozzo's voice.

"Boss, we've got one them getting out of the truck. I think it's Will Mara."

"Where is he headed, Tony?" Gibbs asked.

"The Jetta, Boss. He's getting in now."

"Tony, as soon as he pulls away, you and Ziva high-tail it to that truck. Take out Eric if you have to. Rossi and Prentiss, back them up. Kate and Morgan, stay out of sight, but get back here to back us up, get in behind the Jetta as he is blocked by the Suburban."

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Will Mara slipped in behind the wheel of the blue Jetta. He was starving. They hadn't eaten since breakfast, some ten or eleven hours ago. Besides, it was time. They'd left the little tramp all tied up and alone in the truck for a few hours, letting her fear build up. But now, it was time. Eric would have her first. Over the next couple of days, his brother would take the girl several times. The last time, he'd choke her until she passed out. Then Eric would have his turn, with the girl, and with the hammer. It was what they did. He turned the key and slipped the car into drive. He was craving a Big Mac, and he'd seen a McDonald's a few exits back down the highway.

As soon as the car rounded the corner, Tony and Ziva broke from cover and started running toward the truck. They spread out, one coming up from behind the truck on each side. Rossi and Prentiss broke from the tree line a few seconds later, from the other side of the truck. They moved slowly, keeping an eye on the building, and the truck equally. Suddenly, from the far side of the mill a car horn sounded, long and shrill. It was followed by several gunshots. Ziva leaped up to the side of the truck and pulled the door open in a single motion. Tony hit the other side, a second later. A single gunshot sounded from inside. Rossi and Prentiss broke into a sprint, now knowing that the second brother must indeed be in the truck.

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The Jetta came around the corner of the building and sped up on the way toward the main road. Kate and Morgan had already begun moving that way. As the car rounded the next corner, they stepped out onto the blacktop and sprinted for the corner. Morgan, by virtue of his longer legs, reached it first, peeking around, his weapon raised. He saw the Jetta come to a stop maybe a hundred feet short of the road. The driver had seen the Suburban blocking his way.

He waved Kate on past him, and sprinted out behind her. They closed on the car from behind. They could see Gibbs and Chief Westerman, just out of the edge of the trees. Officer Glenn was behind the Suburban, using the engine block for cover, his own pistol raised as well. They each had their weapon raised, pointing at the car. Kate and Morgan also stayed spread out, but not so much. They took care to be sure their position did not put them in Gibbs' of the Chief's fields of fire, and that those men were not in their own.

"Get out of the vehicle, Mara," Gibbs said. "Keep your hands where we can see them." Instead of complying, Will Mara laid on the horn with his right hand. His left hand came up, a small pistol, maybe a .38, Kate wasn't sure, pointing out the window at Gibbs. He squeezed the trigger once. Kate loosed two shots of her own through the back window of the Jetta. Beside her, she heard Morgan fire three. There was gunfire from the front as well, though she couldn't keep track of the number of rounds. She thought that Mara had fired at least twice more himself. The blood spray on the inside of what remained of the Jetta's windshield proved that someone had hit the bastard.

From the corner of her eye, Kate saw Gibbs. He slowly lowered his weapon, and his eyes seemed to lock with her own, and then he fell. She never even heard the scream that tore from her own throat, as she broke into a run, to his side. Morgan saw it as well, but he forced himself to approach the car cautiously. He soon found that there was no need. Mara was riddled with rounds. He'd been hit four times, twice from the front, and twice in the back, including one head shot each way. He waved the Chief off and moved toward Kate and Gibbs. He could see Officer Glenn calling for an ambulance from the SUV.

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Ziva ripped open the door to the truck with one hand just as the horn sounded, and the bullets began to fly out front. She saw Eric Miller, on his knees, on a small bed built into the back of the truck. His shirt was off, and his jeans unbuttoned, but thankfully still on. He was straddling Lydia Kincaide. Her wrists were bound behind her, and she had several strips of silver duct tape over her mouth, and another over her eyes. He'd ripped open the blouse of her school uniform, but hadn't had time to get any further. He grabbed for the .22 caliber pistol lying nearby on the bed, but Ziva put a round through his right shoulder. He fell off the glorified cot, and away from the girl. Tony ripped open the other door and grabbed him by the hair, yanking him down from the cab and letting him fall face-first to the pavement.

Rossi and Prentiss charged up, both covering Mara. Tony jumped down from the cab and looked to Emily. "She's okay, I think," he said. "Maybe it would be better if you were to go untie her."

"Don't move, dirtbag," Rossi said, putting his foot into the middle of Eric Mara back and forcing him back to the ground when he began trying to rise.

As Prentiss nodded to Tony, holstering her weapon, and moving up into the cab, Tony said, "Comfort isn't really Ziva's thing." It was at that moment that the shooting out front stopped.

A few seconds later, Officer Glenn's voice could be heard over the radio, "Federal Agent down, I repeat, Federal Agent down. I need a bus at 117 Old Mill Road, West Rye."

Ziva appeared from the cab, her eyes locked with Tony's. Somehow, they both knew. Simultaneously, they said, "Gibbs."

Rossi finished putting cuffs on Mara, who cried out from the pain in his shoulder, then looked up at the two NCIS agents. "Go," he said. "We can handle things here." Ziva jumped down, and she and Tony began to run.


	12. Chapter 12

Sorry for the slow update. Hope you all enjoy this next chapter. It's a bit short, but hopefully the next will be a bit meatier. I'll preface by saying that I know very little about medicine, so I hope the medical terminology and situations are not too far off. Anyways, enjoy, G

**CHAPTER TWELVE**

The round from Will Mara's .38 hit Gibbs in the chest, a short distance below his right shoulder. He looked at Kate, hoping that it wouldn't be the last time he'd see her lovely face. He tried to smile, and then his knees just turned to jelly, and he fell forward toward the ground, his own weapon falling from his, now nerveless fingers. He heard Kate's scream as he hit the ground, and the pain from his head connecting with the pavement jolted him back to clarity for a moment.

He tried to roll onto his back, but found that he couldn't. He tried to draw a deep breath and found that he couldn't do that either. Then Kate was there, on her knees beside him. She rolled him onto his back, cradling his head in her lap. She pulled off her jacket and used it to apply pressure to his wound. It hurt like hell, but he knew it was what she had to do. He tried to smile at her, as she hovered over him. He could smell the shampoo from her hair. He'd come to love that scent, apple and herb, more than almost anything else, except perhaps fresh coffee. No, even coffee had to come in second. Her dark eyes were like huge beautiful pools. He loved those eyes.

For her part, Kate was terrified. She'd returned to NCIS a few months ago, and to this man, her boss, now her lover, after three years, and she wasn't about to lose him now.

"Don't even think about dying on me, Jethro," she said, her voice a tremulous whisper. He knew she was serious. She only called him Jethro when she was extremely serious, and usually only when they were alone. He nodded slightly to show her that he'd heard her, and that he had no intentions of giving her up so soon.

Chief Westerman leaned next to her. "We've got an ambulance on the way," he said. "Maybe six minutes out." Even as he spoke, a dark colored Suburban pulled up. Ducky and Dr. Brennan got out, and began moving quickly toward Gibbs.

"Mara's dead," Morgan said, holstering his weapon. "The other one is in custody and the girl's been secured. She's okay." Somehow he knew that knowing this would be important to Gibbs. The silver-haired agent nodded again, almost imperceptibly.

"Oh Jethro, what have you done?" Ducky asked as he knelt down beside his friend. Kate removed the makeshift bandage. Her jacket had been all but soaked through with blood. Dr. Brennan knelt down opposite Ducky. She grabbed the front of Gibbs' polo shirt and tore it open, allowing Ducky a better look at the wound.

"From the angle of entry, the bullet might have hit the lung, or deflected off one of the ribs. Are you having trouble breathing, Jethro?" Gibbs nodded slightly. Tony and Ziva, having run around the building approached. He took her into his arms as they watched their boss being cared for. She didn't seem to need his comfort at first, but after that initial moment, she melted into his arms.

"Do you see those slight bubbles in the blood, Doctor?" Brennan asked, pointing to the blood coming from Gibbs' wound.

"Yes," he answered. "It would indicate that the bullet did indeed puncture the lung. We may need to intubate him, if the paramedics don't arrive quickly." He pointed back toward the SUV they'd arrived in. "I'll need my bag from the back of the truck."

"I'll get it," Tony said, moving quickly in that direction.

"Ducky?" Kate said, a visible tremble in her voice, and tears in her eyes.

"Don't worry, my dear," the Scotsman said. "Jethro is a fighter. Believe it or not, this is good news. When I saw the wound initially, I was afraid the bullet might have deflected off a rib, near his heart, but if it hit the lung, that won't be the case. He'll be up and about again in no time." He gave her his best re-assuring smile, even as he removed his own jacket and began applying pressure again to the wound.

Brennan wasn't so sure about Dr. Mallard's diagnosis, but then she suspected that he was trying to comfort Agent Todd. The woman was clearly involved with Agent Gibbs. She found that interesting. Gibbs hadn't struck her as someone who would become involved with a co-worker. For some reason, and image of Booth flashed through her mind. She quickly focused again as Agent DiNozzo returned with Dr. Mallard's medical bag. She reached out and took it from him.

"What do you need Doctor?" she asked as she opened the bag.

"Hang in there, Boss," Tony said behind her. "I can hear the sirens."

"There should be bandages in there," Ducky said. "They will be more sanitary than this coat." Tony was right. He could hear the sirens of the ambulance getting closer. That was good. He didn't want to try and intubate out here with less than exemplary equipment. Dr. Brennan handed him a large, white roll of bandages. He tore off a large bit and pressed it to Jethro's wound, dropping the coat aside.

The local cops had moved the SUVs, making way for the ambulances, for there were two of them. They pulled in, one behind another, just as Prentiss and Rossi appeared around the corner of the builidng. Prentiss had an arm around Lydia Kincaide, who was wearing Rossi's windbreaker. Rossi was leading a stumbling, and still bleeding Eric Mara.

The paramedics from the first ambulance jumped out and rushed to Gibbs. Ducky and Brennan stepped aside, making way for them to do their jobs, though the ME did spout some medical jargon at them, which Tony didn't quite follow. He was a little scared. The Boss looked awfully pale, and his eyes seemed glassy. They worked on him for a few minutes, and then got him on a gurney and into their bus.

The paramedics from the second ambulance split up, one caring for the wound to Mara's shoulder, and the other checking over Lydia Kincaide. She was terrified, and had contusions on her face and torso, and rope burns on her wrists and ankles, but was otherwise unharmed, at least physically. Once she'd been cleared by the paramedic, Prentiss brought her to one of the SUVs and sat with her so Mara could be loaded in the ambulance. Two local cops rode with him to the hospital, where they'd keep watch over him. Gibbs ambulance had left several minutes earlier, with Kate and Ducky aboard.

Rossi and Morgan, after a brief consultation with Tony, took over the scene, allowing DiNozzo and David to head for the hospital themselves. Prentiss drove Lydia to the police station to reunite her with her mother, and to take her statement. An hour or so later, McGee and Booth arrived. By then, things were well in hand at the scene. Local police from both local departments, as well as the New Hampshire State Police, and the FBI were all over the place. The two Agents went straight to the hospital to see about Gibbs.


	13. Chapter 13

I apologize for the long delay between posts. My muse took an extended vacation. I hope to have the final chapter of this story up soon. I appreciate everyone who has reviewed or PM'd, & all the kind words. I know this chapter is short, & the next may be as well. It's been a lot of fun (for the most part) writing it. Thanks again, G

**CHAPTER THIRTEEN**

The nearest major hospital was in Manchester. The NCIS team was gathered in the waiting area, including Dr. Brennan. She observed them, how close they were, how they leaned on one another for support. Agent DiNozzo and Officer David were sitting together, his arm around her shoulders. As far as Bones could tell, he seemed to be more upset than she was, though the act of trying to comfort her was probably helping him. Dr. Mallard,…Ducky, was sitting with Agent Todd, holding her hand, and saying reassuring things in his deep, soothing voice.

A nurse had come out earlier to tell them that Agent Gibbs had been taken into surgery. In the ambulance, on the way to the hospital, his lung had collapsed. The doctors were very hopeful that everything would go well.

It was a short time later that Booth and Agent McGee came through the doors. McGee went straight to Kate, wrapping her in his arms as she stood. "He'll be okay, Kate," he said. "He has to be."

.

Booth came straight to her. "What's the prognosis?" he asked in a low voice, pulling her to the side. She related to him, in an equally low tone, what they'd been told.

"He's too damned stubborn to die," Booth said.

"I'm not entirely sure that your hypothesis has any substantial medical value," she answered him, just a bit confused by the very idea.

"He'll pull through is all I meant, Bones. He's strong."

"Oh," she said.

They sat as a group, quietly talking, telling stories about Gibbs. Brennan was somewhat surprised by how much all his subordinates seemed to care for him, and respect him, despite the fact that nearly every story bespoke his tendency to push them, growl at them, and head-slap them. She'd asked what they meant by head-slapping, so Agent McGee demonstrated on Agent DiNozzo, who was apparently the most frequent recipient of this procedure anyway.

"Hey!" DiNozzo yelled at the younger man, "do that again, Probie, and they'll be taking you into surgery to remove my foot from your rear end." There was no actual hostility in his voice though, & the whole event seemed to lighten everyone's mood, if only for a while.

Agent Fornell arrived a short while later, & he immediately conferred with Dr. Mallard before offering a few words to Agent Todd. Again, Brennan was surprised. It seemed obvious that there was something between the attractive young NCIS agent and her superior. She never would have guessed. She could certainly see why the woman was attracted to him. He was a handsome, virile man, and his eyes seemed to be a nearly impossible blue, but Agent Gibbs didn't seem the type to allow such fraternization on his team, Agents DiNozzo & David aside, let alone take part in such a relationship himself.

It wasn't much after Fornell's arrival that Director Shepard strode into the waiting room. She took her place amongst them, and her concern was clearly more than just that of a superior worried for her subordinate.

Finally, after nearly two and a half hours, a weary-looking doctor emerged. He stopped in the doorway and addressed the room as a whole. "Agent Gibbs is in the recovery room. We removed the bullet, stopped the bleeding, and re-inflated his lung. He's going to need to take it easy for a while, but he should recover just fine."

"We'll see to that, and thank you Doctor," Ducky said. "May we see him now?"

The doctor seemed to consider for a moment. "I suppose it wouldn't hurt to let you in for a little while. No more than two at a time, and don't stay too long. He needs to rest."

No one objected that Kate and Jenny went first, followed by Abby & Ducky, then DiNozzo & David, and finally Fornell & Kate again. When they returned, they all seemed as if a weight had been lifted from their shoulders, each verifying with his, or her own eyes that the man they saw as father, mentor, friend, or lover was indeed alive, and strong, and he would recover.

Fornell informed them that arrangements for rooms had been made at a hotel nearby. The Mara brothers were in FBI custody, and were being transported back to Washington. He congratulated them all on a job well done. They all got into FBI vans which were waiting outside and drove the mile or so to their hotel.

The following day, most returned to DC, including Jenny, Tony, Ziva & Abby. Kate & Ducky stayed to accompany Gibbs when he was transferred to Bethesda in a day or so. Tony assumed temporary command of the team, and surprisingly enough he was quite diligent about completing all the necessary paperwork for their joint investigation, as was Ziva. Abby set to work in her lab, determined that not a single detail would be overlooked. These men had hurt Gibbs, and she'd make damned sure they paid for everything if she could.


	14. Chapter 14

**CHAPTER FOURTEEN**

Two weeks later, Gibbs walked into the NCIS building, a good week ahead of the recommendation of his doctor. He smiled at Henry, the security guard, and guaranteed him that he was fine. He waited patiently for the elevator and stepped inside, riding it to the third floor, where he stepped out into the bullpen.

It felt like home. One would think that it would be difficult to miss the hideous orange walls, but he really had. Of course, spending two weeks at home with Kate did have its benefits, but Gibbs was, and long had been, a man who defined himself by his work.

He'd been pleased to hear that DiNozzo had stepped right up and done a fine job of running the team in his absence. He'd expected no less. Kate volleyed back and forth between talking about how impressed she was with Tony's ability to lead when necessary, and her utter frustration at his antics and his stubborn refusal to grow up when things were slow. Of course, he'd expected that as well. A leopard doesn't change its spots easily.

He took a sip of his coffee and headed for the MCRT portion of the bullpen. He was surprised to find it empty. _"They must have caught a case this morning,"_ he thought. He moved to his desk and sat down. There was a ton of paperwork he'd need to do this morning. He'd let DiNozzo handle things until he was caught up. Another sip of coffee and he waded into the enormous stack of papers waiting for his perusal.

It didn't take long before the rest of the team came back. Ziva and McGee had been down with Abby. They greeted Gibbs warmly before moving to their own desks. Moments later DiNozzo and Kate came in from the garage. They'd been at FBI, finishing up everything with Fornell for the Mara case. As usual, they were bickering over something trivial as they entered the bullpen. Like the orange walls, it was something Gibbs figured he'd never want to hear again, but right now, it was like music to his ears.

"Oh, hey Boss," Tony said, having noticed his superior. "Welcome back." He wanted to ask why Gibbs had come back early and whether or not the doctors had okayed it, but he already knew the answers to both questions. Gibbs was Gibbs after all, & if Tony had anything to say about it, he always would be.


End file.
